Dead Space: NIGHTMARE
by Drake S. Hellion
Summary: When the Ishimura goes dark and the Company who built her gets a message from one of their agents requesting military power, they send in one of their elite teams to find out what happened and soon, Sabre team is plunged into the nightmare. RnR.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Inside the Universal Propulsions head office building on Earth it was business as usual for the multi billion credit company that provided the booster engines for roughly seventy percent of the space faring vehicles across humanity's vast colonies for the last fifty or so years since the company's creation by its late CEO Jackson Cowry. From the smaller shuttles to largest military grade battleships UP had its reach in almost every bit of space territory.

But that wasn't all the UP had in its pockets, it had a number of secretive projects known only to its top suits. With the company being handed down to CEO Jackson's son, Jameson Cowry. Jameson quickly saw the potential for a private security force, known as SAT, Security Assault Team for the various Company buildings that were placed across the colonies in space. This proved to be a very successful idea since the security kept the employees safe while providing excellent protection of their company's internal secrets while avoiding general suspicion from the law.

However, as inter-Company tactics and espionage grew more aggressive and advanced, Jameson saw the need for an even more advanced force of militaristic forces to further secure his family's company position as one of the greats. He quickly and discreetly began to fund the UPSMF on a remote moon in a system that had been deemed "unfit" for habitation and too low on minerals for even mining.

The Universal Propulsions Special Military Force base Echelon on the moon of Theta XII was where over two thousand personal, military and scientist alike, lived and worked for extended periods extending the UPSMF's arsenal of tools. This lead to the creation of the Special Assault Squad or SAS program, this expensive program took hand chosen individuals from the SAT and gave them further, more rigorous training regime to perfect their combat skills.

With that, no SAS was ever "rookie" in the sense they had never seen combat, most candidates had seen a firefight or two, death and all that nice stuff that gave people nightmares. Jameson had to tread lightly with this however, since the training broke several laws on brutality and other things he didn't wish to mention to anyone he didn't think needed to know.

That was why Michelle Santiago sat in her office inside UP Earth Headquarters, her nicely decorated office was furbished for both comfort and professionalism with a cold air that her position demanded, at forty-three she was well aged with a red hair, nicely tanned skin and sharp green eyes that showed knowledge beyond her years. She had been in the company for nineteen years, starting off as a secretary, working her way up to office manager of the economic branch and now, after three years of training and briefing into the more secret side of the company. Manager of the UPSMF branch.

On her real mahogany desk was her console, a cup of coffee and other documents and devices for her office life. Grabbing said coffee she lifted it to her lips and sipped at it, it had gone cold, but it still gave her the energy she needed after her sixteen hour shift of filing through the various SAS files.

_So many people, all former SAT officers,_ she thought as her eyes moved over each line of data detailing the thirty some operatives names, rank and other basic information. It was tedious as more of the teams were either "Deployed" or "On Leave", it didn't surprise her, the SAS were often called to other UP buildings on special assignments for the various branch managers.

"Ma'am, we have received an encrypted message from agent Watts, it's marked as Red urgent," her personal secretary's voice came through the small intercom on her desk. "Shall I patch it through?"

Michelle blinked. Red urgent? She quickly straightened herself out and nodded. "yes, please." she waited.

"_This Watts!_ _UPSMF base Echelon, this is a Code Red alert message! Please send Sterilization team to USG-_Ishimura_! I repeat! Send sterilization team to-_" There was a burst of pulse rifle fire, an inhuman screech and sounds of struggle as Michelle listened. "-_Uck! No! No! Pleas_-" she closed the message. She didn't need to hear the rest to figure out his fate.

She turned back to her screen, typed a command and quickly found a single team that was marked "Inactive", Sabre team was currently on standby on Echelon base and that was good, it was commanded by Lieutenant Micheal Wallcott, a personal friend of Michelle from their short time as pencil pushers.

She brought up the teams files on her screen. _Micheal Wallcott, First Lieutenant, forty-two and SAT officer for nine years, SAS Squad leader for seven years, Sabre Team leader,_ she was impressed with the record of the man as more of his information scrolled across her screen. His deployments, achievements and background information.

Next was Yuri Ackerson. The Second-In-Command of Sabre team and former SAT drill sergeant. Currently Gunnery Sergeant, _joined the Company as hired drill instructor, left the military in favor of UP and joined the SAS program as one of the first candidates, was out once, then passed second attempt two years later with flying colors, _Michelle didn't comment on his more rugged appearance that appealed to her. Instead she shuffled past the file and moved onto the others.

Noah Inuwa, second newest addition to the team. _Former SAT officer for five years and SAS for eight months, passed exam after second attempt and was placed with Sabre, Lance Corporal, shows extreme aptitude for computer expertise, current tech._ Michelle scanned the rest of the file, nothing out of the ordinary, until something caught her eye. "Former unitologist, huh." the man didn't strike her as religious.

John Henderson, young, smart and an excellent shot. _Lance Corporal, been with SAS for two years, SAT for seven, newest addition to Sabre and second in standing with Inuwa on tech skills, demoted once for fraternization with Echo Team's marksman,_ Michelle rolled her eyes. The young man had the look of a womanizer alright.

Michelle sipped more of her coffee while oddhandedly tapping a key on her console, bringing up the profile for Carter Varone, a liaison between the corporate and military branches of the United Propulsion. She quickly opened a com to his personal room, it beeped once, twice…

"_Hello, ma'am_," he sounded slightly groggy, she guessed he must have been sleeping. "_Need something?_"

"Yes, I need you to go to Echelon and brief a team on the mission file I am sending you, this is to remain discreet as usual, tell no one but the pilot, the team and Colonel Cartwright, understood?" she didn't need to ask, but it made her feel powerful, a guilty pleasure.

"_Ma'am, understood_," the com closed and she resumed looking over the files of the other two, finishing her coffee and quickly preparing the mission file, encrypting it and then sending it to Varone. She suddenly felt drained once all her work was done and she pressed her intercom.

"I am not to be bothered for the next eight hours," she didn't even wait for the reply before she leaned back on her leather chair, closed her eyes and drifted off into a light, dreamless sleep.

Varone had checked over the mission file once he received it, he had been a liaison to the Military branch of UP for little over three years now and the pay was good for just talking, giving a briefing and travelling, easy money for him and he liked it that way. This mission however sounded like something out of a horror film, he somewhat pitied the team who had to take it on. Even as he boarded the shuttle to Echelon he couldn't shake the feeling that something big was coming.

**End of Prologue**


	2. Chapter one

**Dead Space: NIGHTMARE**

**AN: **This is a rewritten version of my original Dead Space story, Dead Space: SAS, aside from the title change there are more changes, in fact… only think I didn't change was the names of the characters, the setting… and the enemy.

**Chapter one: The Mission**

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The annoying chime of the blinking console was the only source of light within the otherwise pitch black room, the light giving shape to several objects as it continued to beep its alert. Finally, with a small yawn a figure curled up on the bed under a blanket rolled over and sat up quickly.

"Sender?" The man asked, voice drowsy and dripping with annoyance at being woken up.

"Good morning Lance Corporal Inuwa," A synthesized female voice replied from the console. "Sender… Gunnery Sergeant Ackerson. Confirming priority level…Red." the voice said curtly.

Noah's dark gray eyes widened and the man quickly threw the tangle covers off his body, his well toned body covered only by a pair of simple gray boxers, rushing over to the console he said. "Play message!" while sitting down and paying rapt attention, his unruly posture replaced by trained professionalism.

Then again, being part of the Universal Propulsions Special Military Forces official unofficial Special Assault Squad program, meant he had to be ready to switch from "civvie" mode to "SAS" in a flash. Inuwa was fairly good at that.

"Gladly," The console replied, beeped and then played the message.

"_Inuwa, report to Briefing Room 12 on level 6, double time, Lance Corporal_!" The message ended and Inuwa knew that if Anderson were there he would have glared at him to boot.

Standing again Inuwa said. "Lights on." The room lit up and revealed the rest of the otherwise small room, a desk with a console, compartments for clothes and a simple bed, nothing more. Taking out some pants, socks and a shirt he quickly dressed and left the room, muttering a quick lights off before the door hissed closed.

Inuwa always felt a sense of repetitiveness when he wondered the halls of the base, he could never really ignore it since every hall he went down was almost exactly the same! The same dull gray walls, black tiled flooring and bright blue lights hanging overhead with the doors on each side, some elevators and service staircases.

Then again, he was also thankful for that repetitive nature since it long since had helped him plan the fastest routes to get to here and there, he was one of the few marines on the base that maintained near perfect punctuality whenever he was called to a briefing, demonstration, greeting, funeral service, etc.

Turning a corner he briefly saw black before he collided with someone, causing him to grunt and the other to release a startled yelp, blinking he looked down and said. "Karin?"

The woman had neatly kept dark hair, sharp blue eyes and a fairly attractive figure, wearing a coat and the common clothes of a scientist she fixed her glasses on her nose and replied. "Noah, in a rush as usual I see…" her voice was curt, but the hidden embarrassment could be heard if one listened closely.

Inuwa felt his lips twitch and he said. "Sorry, sis…" he muttered, trying to keep from smiling. "Briefing, gotta go!" he walked by her, not giving her time to return the farewell before he was lightly jogging down the halls.

Finally after a short elevator ride, several halls and turns later he arrived outside a door with the number '12' over it and so he pressed a button on keypad next to it. It hissed open and he stepped inside to see three figures already there, one was dressed formally, more like a businessman or wealthy person rather than a military trained personal.

The other two however were in the same clothes as Noah.

"Lance Corporal, nice of you to join us," The man in the suit said with a wave of his hand. "Take a seat while we wait for the rest of the team to arrive."

Inuwa was a bit hesitant to follow the order of a random person, but decided to humor the man and sat down, then looked to one of the two military men. "Lieutenant Walcott," he greeted his superior and team leader before turning to the other. "Ackerson."

"That's Gunnery Sergeant Ackerson to you, Lance Corporal Inuwa." Yuri Ackerson said with a frown on his middle aged face, shaking his head at the younger SAS operative. The man's shaved head and bright green eyes were a contrast to Noah's own appearance, which was probably why the two didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things, like their appearance. Inuwa and Ackerson's personalities clashed like fire against water.

Noah opened his mouth to retort.

"Enough you two," The two turned to face First Lieutenant Micheal Walcott, who was giving them each a warning look through his dull brown eyes, a few stray strands of light red hair free from his otherwise orderly appearance. "No arguments until after this is done." it was as much an order as a statement.

Inuwa nodded and stayed silent, fighting the urge to lean back on his chair and instead sitting straight. With a hiss the door opened, a man walked inside and took a seat quietly. This man, who Noah knew was the newest and youngest of the team, was Lance Corporal John Henderson.

"Sorry I'm a bit late, sir…" Henderson mumbled to Walcott. "I was, er… distracted." he said lamely, though everyone knew it meant he had taken a certain fellow SAS operative to bed from a different team, their relationship, much to Henderson's belief, wasn't so discreet.

"I'm sure," Walcott said dryly.

The door hissed open again and in rushed two people this time, each took a sea and quickly sat at attention, The first to enter was Christopher, or Chris as he liked, Robertson. The second was Robert Michigan, both were the same age and relatively laid back, even in the presence of a superior.

"Sir, sorry we're late sir!" Robertson saluted to Walcott from his seat, his hazel eyes and neatly trimmed brown hair was glistening with water, Noah assumed he must have gotten his message while in the showers.

"I would have gotten here sooner…" Began Michigan as he sighed and massaged his temples, drowsy black eyes narrowed in agitation. "Had this moron!" he glared at Robertson. "Not decided to lead me on a merry chase through the base because he whipped me with a towel!"

That brought a chuckle from Noah's lips as he said. "Well, what a nice way to start the day, eh?" he teased. He knew Corporal Michigan was a hothead, but a damned good hand-to-hand combatant in the ring, But he also knew Sergeant Robertson was a very fast runner, he could imagine the length of the chase.

"Shut it, Inuwa."

"Enough!" The room quieted down again at Walcott's order. "Alright, This man here is with UPSMF's Intelligence Division, he's come all the way from Earth Headquarters to give our team a mission of Red importance, so I expect you all to pay attention, now…" Walcott turned to the suited man. "Go on, sir."

The SAS operatives turned to the man and listened as he spoke.

"My name is Varone, As Captain Walcott said, I am with Universal Propulsions Special Military Forces Intelligence Division and I came here to brief you all on your upcoming mission," Varone tapped a button on the console and the room darkened, then the table they sat around blinked and revealed a holo-screen. "This message was received from one of our Agents aboard the USG_-Ishimura_, a planet Cracker…" he tapped another button and a holographic image of said ship appeared.

The team took in the information and their minds immediately began to work and wonder where this was going.

"Now, here is the actual message…" Varone tapped another key.

There was some static and finally a voice came through. Strained with either pain or fear the team couldn't tell. But it was clear the speaker was less than calm as he recorded. "_This is Watts! UPSMF base Echelon, this is a Code Red alert message! Please send Sterilization team to USG-_Ishimura_! I repeat! Send sterilization team to_-" There was a bout of static and what sounded like Pulse rifle fire. "-_Uck! No! No! No please!_" what followed were the sounds of tearing flesh, inhuman growls and garbled pleas.

Varone closed the message, face still blank as before. "Your mission gentlemen, is to go to the USG-Ishimura, evaluate the situation and eliminate all hostile threats by any means necessary." Varone paused, waiting for questions.

Robertson took the helm on the questions. "What exactly are we going up against? Those didn't sound like human threats to me… and by any means necessary, you mean we can just blow up the ship? And what about civilian presence?"

Varone narrowed his eyes at the Sergeant before replying briskly. "When you find out what you're up against, please inform us, as for destroying the ship, no, The Ishimura is not to be destroyed, clear the ship…" he paused, as if choosing his next few words. "As for civilian presence, that depends on the situation, but your priority is the elimination of threats, civilian lives come second, am I clear?"

"Sir! Crystal sir!" The SAS team chorused.

"Good, your shuttle leaves soon, head down to the Armory, grab your gear and best of luck to you all," Varone stood, nodded and left the room.

"You heard the man, move out!" Ackerson barked to the team, who all stood and left quickly, headed for the nearest elevator, when they were alone Ackerson turned to Walcott and said. "Sir… what are your thoughts on this?" he meant the mission.

Walcott turned and gave Ackerson a small stare. "I have a bad feeling about it," he replied truthfully. "A very bad feeling."

_That's not good… _Ackerson thought, whenever Walcott had a bad feeling it was often right.

Inuwa, along with the rest of the team, stood in the elevator as it ascended to level two where the main SAT armory was located, along with the SAS training grounds, firing range and main sparring rings for hand-to-hand matches. Unlike the previous level this one wasn't all halls and doors, this had observational windows and fewer doors.

Also armed guards armed with UPM AR01- Breaker Assault Rifle, hence the AR in the name, though people just called it the 'Breaker' for short. Noah had to applaud UPWD for their creation on the Breaker, it fired energy based, semi explosive rounds in either full or semi automatic, though most SAS teams preferred the semi auto. Holding thirty rounds in a single circular 'magazine' with a bull pump design and a rail system to allow the mounting of optics such as scopes and lasers.

It was truly a work of art in terms of overall performance, then again, all of SAS' gear was top grade. Just how Noah liked it.

Lightly turning his head to the left to see about twenty-four men and women running an obstacle course while their instructors yelled and rushed them along was always a sight, it also reminded Inuwa of when he was a trainee like them hoping to get into the great SAS program, thankfully, after only two attempts, many injuries and a real ego bruising he made it and was placed on Walcott's team.

"To think, only six of those twenty four will make SAS at the end of that…" Robertson said while he idly read a book, eyes moving over the pages. "Shame…" he added.

Inuwa had to agree, he remembered all the disappointment he felt around him when the six names to make SAS were announced at the end of the year long training regime, but that was how it was, luckily he was placed on a more experienced team rather then a team formed of five fresh SAS and a veteran. "Yeah, it is… remember when we were down there?" he asked conversationally.

"Yeah… still got the scar from a nasty fall on the rappel ropes…" Michigan chuckled and sighed. "Man… I was an idiot."

"You still are," Robertson smiled at the twitch of Michigan's brow before adding. "Maybe more so!"

"Don't tempt me, Robertson… I will ring your neck." Michigan growled.

"Ooooh, scary!"

The team, except Michigan, shared a small, good natured laugh.

When the arrived at the doubled doors of the armory they quickly entered and approached Weapons Requisition Officer's desk, where the surprisingly young man was typing away at the console, seemingly having not seen the SAS team.

Walcott cleared his throat.

"I know, First Lieutenant Walcott, SAS operative and Sabre Team leader, Lets see…" The man said, eyes not taken off the screen as his fingers nimbly moved across the keys of the console. "Your gear has been cleaned and prepped," one hand gestured to the wall, where six compartments opened to reveal six pairs of gray full body suits, black armor plates along the shoulder, biceps, forearms, thighs and legs, chest stomach and back.

"Six pairs of SAS Combat Armor suits," The WRO said as he looked to the team. "Also, your weapons…" he tapped a key and more compartments beside the first opened, revealing a store of weapons and other gear. "Four Breakers, two Jackhammers and six Sheer wrist blades." The man recited before turning to the team. "Right?"

Walcott nodded. "Yeah," _Kid loves his job, _he thought lightly, impressed before turned to the team. "Grab your gear."

Inuwa moved towards his locker and took the two piece Combat Armor suit, He remembered how when he first become part of the team that he was hesitant to wear it due to the fact it was form fitting and looked tight enough to restrict movement, but he was quickly proven wrong when he tried it on and got used to it, the gray under suit did fit the body, but it had a special temperature levelling layer that made it match the wearer's body temperature for comfort and movement was not restricted as much as he thought it would be.

The black armor plates were made from a dense metal developed by UP, originally used for warship hulls, but since the metal itself cost a small fortune to produce on a large scale it was decided to be used for personal armor SAS suits rather then full ships, lightweight and dense it could take a pulse rifle round and keep it's sheen.

After he was finished dressing he reached into the compartment and retrieved the black plated helmet, the visor was in a Y shape as he put it on with a small click, signalling the helmet was locked, Raising his right wrist up where the suits control panel was located he pressed the blinking red light on the display.

The suit sparked to life, the glowing lights on the spine slowly blinked up to full and green, the visor blinked and glowed a soft blue and he felt the once cold suit warm to match his body temperature and he knew in a few moments it would be like he was wearing nothing at all.

"Com check, sound off." Came Walcott's voice over the helmet speakers.

Inuwa raised a hand to the side of his helmet and tapped it. "Inuwa here, I read you gunny, ya receiving me?" he replied.

"I read you, Lance Corporal," Walcott replied. "Loud and clear."

Inuwa nodded in satisfaction and turned to observe the rest of the team, which were all just finishing up their own dressings, soon the various members tested their own coms.

While they did that Inuwa reached into the other compartment and retrieved his UPM CS01-Jackhammer shotgun, the weapon itself was longer then the Breaker by three inches, also heavier and slightly bulkier. But it made up for these in terms of sheer destructive force in close quarters, the Jackhammer fired a tough spread of semi explosive, magazine fed energy based slugs in semi automatic that exploded on impact, making it able to tear apart a man in a single shot at near point blank range.

Taking the extra magazines Inuwa stored them into his armor's storage pockets on his chest and thighs he then took the Sheer wrist dagger gauntlet and attached it to his left forearm. The Sheer blade was another thing Inuwa admired about being an SAS operative, it extended a foot long blade over the users wrist and the edge was lined with small plasma coils that heated to tremendous temperatures so it gave the blade superior cutting ability, able to sever armor and bone alike like a hot knife through butter.

After a quick check over of the suit again Inuwa turned back to the others. "We all set, Gunnery Sergeant?" he asked Walcott, crossing his arms with his Breaker slung over his shoulder.

Walcott nodded, then waited for the rest of the team to gather their gear before opening the team wide com. "Move out, to the hanger!" he ordered, turning and moving out of the armory, his own Breaker in his hands rather slung over his shoulder.

Inuwa followed, behind him was Ackerson then Henderson and Robertson, behind them was Michigan.

As the team moved towards the hanger they lightly chatted about various topics, though Noah stayed mostly out of it unless someone directly addressed him, he didn't want to talk at the moment, just figure out why he had a feeling that maybe this mission wasn't going to be anything he had seen before.

Fighting back the feeling he realized that they had reached the Hanger, various transport shuttles were docked, though few were actually active, only one or two of the seven. One of the flight crew on deck waved at the team and pointed to the furthest shuttle. "That's yours!"

Walcott nodded and the team double timed it to the shuttle and stepped up the loading ramp into the main hold, where there was a row of seats on each side along with straps for safety, the shuttle could easily fit twenty people, but for the six of them it was perfect for sleeping.

When they were all seated and strapped Walcott opened a com channel to the pilot. "We're set, take off."

The shuttle shuddered and they soon felt the sense of vertigo that told them they were moving.

For a time the shuttle was silent except the thrum of the engines before finally Robertson spoke. "Am I the only one who has a… different feeling about this mission?" he glanced over everyone to see their reactions, which was blocked by the visors of their helmets.

"I got it too…" Inuwa said, shaking his head. "Feels like the first time I was in high school." he joked lightly.

Ackerson and Walcott shared a look, they both had the feeling too but didn't say anything, they were the second and first in command of the team, they needed to keep rock solid and set an example for the rest of the team.

"Stow it and rest up people, it's a bit of a ride to Aegis VII and the Ishimura," Walcott said while he laid his Breaker at his feet, crossed his arms and leaned his head back.

Noah didn't like how Walcott always kept thoughts to himself, the man was mysterious as it was without him only speaking when he felt it was necessary but he didn't share his opinion on _anything_, Noah even once asked him what his opinion on toast was, to which Walcott shrugged.

It kinda pissed him off to be truthful, but what could he do? Walcott was his superior and a damn good leader, so he wasn't about to make a big deal of it.

"Nighty night," Robertson muttered and copied Walcott, leaning his head back.

"Baby…" Henderson chuckled, leaning his own head back and resting his hands comfortably at his sides.

Soon only Noah and Ackerson were awake in the shuttle and silence ensued.

**End of chapter one**

**There it is, chapter one of the rewritten and revised version of my Dead Space story, any thoughts? Questions? Suggestions? If so, then feel free to PM me or leave a review and I shall get to it as soon as I can. Alright, if that's all, thanks for reading.**


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